Hannah pulled into the school's car park, checking the clock on the car's dashboard. Fucking traffic and prick drivers, she thought, now I'm going to be late. She grabbed her bag; the test she had taken home last night to check before copying; and a bag of bananas, from the passenger seat. Clutching the awkward assortment of objects to her chest, she sashayed her butt against the car door and bumped it closed. Then she sighed, yea right, of course my ID would choose now to have escaped and be lying there on the seat. Laughing at me.
The smorgasbord of stuff teetered but didn't fall as she balanced it on the car's roof then retrieved the tricky little plastic escapologist and slipped its lanyard around her neck. She slung her bag over her shoulder this time, the test and bananas hugged against her chest, good to go. With a final glance to check that she hadn't left anything else, Hannah turned to head for the school entrance and bumped straight into the new guy who'd just started after spring break.
She felt the pages of the test slipping, and the paper bag holding a shit-load of bananas started to squirm from her fingertips. Hannah desperately tried gripping everything tighter, and shrugging her shoulders in case her bag decided to join the party and try to slip down her arm, but that just seemed to exacerbate an already precarious situation.
"Whoa, I've got it," Hands brushed hers as the new guy caught the slow avalanche that was inching down her breasts towards free-fall and the asphalt at her feet. "Now that was close."
"OK, let me just get this lot steady, and..." His fingers inadvertently brushed her nipple as he jiggled the pile and stepped back taking it from her.
He looked at her, his eyes echoed the easy smile that curled his mouth pleasantly, "That's a shit-load of bananas for one girl."
Hannah smiled too, mostly at his use of the same description that she had of her bag of fruit. To be fair it was a shit-load. But also a little because he had called her a girl, something quite basic in her reacted very positively to that. That and the inadvertent contact with her breast. "Thanks, it's Jack, yea?" His eyes were gentle. "What's that accent, Irish?"
"Yup, and nope," that smile again. "I'm from Scotland."
Hannah felt him, that was the only way she could describe how his eyes on hers perfectly prefaced the buttery burr of his voice. "I met a guy from Scotland once. Well I didn't actually meet him." She looked down, "He was a friend... we only talked, well chatted..."
Jack grinned conspiratorially, "Online dating?"
She blushed, "Yea, sort of."
"I dabbled too," he said as she held her arms out to take her stuff back. He glanced down as she did. Then looked back up from her breasts as she said, "I should be OK with that lot from here."
He demurred, "Not at all, that would be ungentlemanly, don't you worry about it, I've got this for you."
They walked towards the main entrance together. Hannah was quite tall and Jack wasn't much taller, but something about him made her feel smaller. It was a nice feeling and one she didn't experience often. Having been teased about her height as a kid, she often found herself still wishing she was looking up a little more than she usually needed to. She silently appraised him, he seemed very assured, but not in a cocky sort of way, as if he wasn't even aware of it. Or that he inspired a very attractive sense of security in her.
As they got to the main doors, Hannah stepped forward to open one side for him, and caught him glancing down again as he passed her. A boob man, huh, she thought, but he threw her a curve ball. "You're a Reds fan?"
"I, uh, yea, how'd you know?"
He laughed. That sounded nice too. "Don't worry I've not been stalking you, Hannah." He tipped his head to her lanyard, "You're wearing your team's colours."
Ha, the lanyard. She didn't know whether to be pleased at that or not. Then, Hannah? Hang on, she realised that she'd neglected to introduce herself when she'd asked his name. Despite that it appeared that he knew her name anyway.
"Maybe we could take in a game sometime. I can't get my head around what passes for sports over here. I could do with an expert tutor."
Hannah smiled, "Yea, OK. That sounds nice."
"Cool, how about, Saturday? I fancy checking out that sports bar on the main drag, How about catching a game there?"